Document U.S. Pat. No. 8,215,684 discloses an opening system of this type, implemented in a storage compartment located in the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle and comprising a housing, forming a frame, and a closing flap that pivots relative to the housing and forms a door.
In that document, when the closing flap is in the closed position relative to the housing of the storage compartment, actuation of a pushbutton controls for a predetermined duration, causes the electromagnet to magnetically couple to the ferromagnetic element, which breaks the magnetic attraction between the ferromagnetic element provided on the housing of the storage compartment and the magnets provided on the closing flap. The flap can then be moved to a position which exposes the opening of the housing, for example by an opening action performed by an occupant of the vehicle or by gravity.
When the vehicle occupant wishes to close the storage compartment, he or she acts directly on the flap to return it to the closed position on the housing. As control of the electromagnet is no longer effective, the flap is now held in the closed position on the housing by the closure force generated by magnetic cooperation between the ferromagnetic element of the housing and the magnets on the flap.
In the system described in document U.S. Pat. No. 8,215,684, nothing is provided for detecting such a closing action performed by a vehicle occupant on the storage compartment. Detection of this information, and in particular the arrival of the flap in the closed position on the housing, may be particularly useful, for example for controlling the extinguishing of a storage compartment lighting device or activating a storage compartment cooling device.
More generally, detecting that an opening member has reached its closed position on a frame can be useful for controlling equipment whose operation is affected by this information.
Many devices exist in the prior art for detecting that an opening member has reached its closed position on a frame. These devices make use of sensors such as mechanical switches, optical sensors, or Hall effect sensors.
However, implementation of such a sensor device in an opening system represents a significant cost and poses problems in terms of: physical integration with the opening system, as the sensor device occupies a certain volume and the space available within the opening system may be limited; the limited service life of the sensor device which then may need to be replaced; or the complexity of the wiring.